Diary of an Ardent Fan

For the 3rd time, I went to Scarefest.

I’m going to try to tell my experience in sequence as to how the day went.

Of course I won’t say everything because I can never remember every minute detail, but I’ll do my best to describe this great day I had.

Scarefest may now be the biggest horror convention in the U.S.

I went on the most busiest day, Saturday.

I initially thought it was going to literally be a nightmare because the line was outside of the building and at that point across the street at a hotel next door.

And I was worried because I had a photo op at 11:15 AM, and it was almost 11 when I got in line, so I was very worried.

Luckily, some staff members came outside and told people that if they had an early photo op that they could go on inside.

So, I did go inside, got my bracelet for the day (some had badges, I had a bracelet), and went in when doors opened at 11.

I went right to the photo op line to get my picture taken with actress Adrienne Barbeau, who has starred in Maude, Someone’s Watching Me, The Fog, Escape From New York, Swamp Thing, and so many other movies and shows.  She’s even an author too.

Anyway, I got my picture taken with Adrienne.  She’s a very sweet person and I thank her.

I then went to get my picture taken with a Terminator cyborg!!

I’m a HUGE Terminator fan (I love all the movies.) so this was a geek moment for me.  I had to do it.

I was going to go get either a picture or autograph from Kane Hodder, maybe the most famous Jason Voorhees of them all, but I ultimately didn’t because I wanted to walk around awhile before I went to the Q&As I was going to attend, which were many and frankly, I didn’t think I could afford it this time.

Before I go on, though, for anyone who reads this, I want to say that Kane Hodder is loved by soooooo many people and I have nothing but respect for him as a talent.

However, something happened last year when I did meet him that still stings.

I met him at Scarefest last year and mostly, he was great.  I got a great picture with him, which I still love, and I was able to ask him a question at a Q&A.  He answered great, but then he said to the audience in reference to me “Ron Jeremy ladies and gentlemen!”.  The audience laughed, albeit nervously or should I say an ooooooh moment happened amongst the audience.

Now, I know it was a joke and I took it that way and went on with my day.

And I’ve seen enough videos of Kane that I can tell he has a very sarcastic sense of humor, which is fine.

However, it ultimately stung because I was reminded of this joke later when I was paying for gas one night on the way home from work, and this cashier had the gall to say to me as I was walking out of the gas station and I quote “have a nice evening Mr. Jeremy” and snickered.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!

Again, I know Kane was joking and screw the gas station guy (also a Facebook person even called me Ron Jeremy Jr. even earlier on than all of this when all I did was post a picture of myself and Lou Ferrigno together when I met him a few years ago).

Trust me, I did nothing to deserve this.

I don’t think I look like Ron Jeremy, nor do I want to.

Jeremy is in prison for the rest of his life, one of the charges of which is rape.

That is not a laughing matter.

And that is not anything I want to be associated with.

Again, I know Kane was joking and please don’t think I’m knocking him, but I’m also saying that the joke stung me and I did not ask for it nor deserved it.

I’m sorry but this has bothered me for a year and I don’t think about it often, but when I do, it hurts.

OK rant over.  Back to this great day because it was great.

I walked around a little while and checked out a lot of the great vendors and tried to see all the celebrities signing stuff/taking seflies at their tables.  I did not see all of them, but I saw many and it was great seeing all the ones I saw (Richard Dreyfuss, Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, Dylan McDermott, R.A. Mihailoff, Adrienne King, Amy Steel, I may have seen Kimberly Beck, Lar Park Lincoln, Jack Osbourne, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor-Compton, and several others).

Now, I usually don’t go up to these people unless I’m paying for something (autograph/selfie) and unfortunately I couldn’t because I was broke.  I know you’re supposed to have a lot of money at these events but in this case, I was on a budget and it was a tight one.  So I did what I could, which was still a lot I think.  Hopefully I can plan better in the future.

Having said that, I did go say hi to Melanie Kinnaman, the star of Friday The 13th Part V because she told me on Facebook to come and say hi to her.  So I did.  Very nice person.  And I truly do enjoy Part V.  Many don’t but I do.  I appreciate her kindness.  

And I’m sure most of these people are kind but again I don’t want to get in line and just say hi because I know they don’t want that.  They want you to buy something and I understand that.

And trust me, if I was rich, I would get every autograph on everything and pictures with everyone.

But I’m not rich and I’ve been to many of these and some I’ve spent more at than others.

I really wanted to spend a lot at this one but again, I couldn’t.

And I’m sorry about that.

Anyway, once I walked around for awhile, I went to the first Q&A I was going to attend that day, and it was a Day Of The Dead panel.

The panel included Tom Savini, Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Jarlath Conroy, John Amplas, Mark Tierno, and Debra Gordon.

They talked about their experiences making Dawn Of The Dead, working with director/writer George Romero (R.I.P.), and it was a great time had by all.

Right after them was a Friday The 13th Panel of some of the actresses whose characters survived the movies they were in.

The panel included Adrienne King (star of Part 1 and briefly in Part 2 and did a fan film called Jason Rising), Amy Steel (Part 2), Melanie Kinnaman (Part V as I mentioned above), Lar Park Lincoln (Part 7), and Jensen Daggett (Part 8:  Jason Takes Manhattan).  Kimberly Beck (Part 4) was scheduled to appear but didn’t.

This was another great time where all the actresses talked about their experiences making their respective movies of the Jason franchise.

Adrienne told a story of how her scene in Part 2 was basically the last thing done on the movie and that she had to ad-lib the whole thing, and that the weapon used to kill her character was actually not retractable, so that was dangerous.

Lar said this gave her the indication later on after she did Part 7 that she probably better not return for Part 8 and she didn’t.

That was just one story.  Loved seeing these great actresses and it was a very fun time.

After this, I went to eat at the food court they had, which was a pretty big room and had some good food.

However, I will say that even though it was a big room, it could’ve been bigger because I ended up eating on the floor.

But oh well minor complaint.

I then went back to the same room I was at for the previous two Q&As for more of them.

Next Q&A was a Jaws Reunion panel.

This included Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper in Jaws), Susan Backlinie (the first person to be killed in Jaws), Jeffrey Voorhees (Alex Kintner in Jaws), and Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Hendricks in Jaws and Jaws 2).

I had met Richard Dreyfuss in 2018 at another convention and he’s great.

Not only a great actor, but has lots of stories to tell, is funny, and just awesome I think.

Everyone told their stories, but Richard did a lot of the talking and was asked the most questions from the fans.

He was asked about the play that is currently on Broadway about the making of Jaws and he said it is not accurate at all, saying that Robert Shaw is a hero of his and that they got along great. 

He said that nothing worked on Jaws, but that the movie became great due to the editing and music, which many have sand and agreed with.

He said that he, Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, Steven Spielberg, and editor Verna Fields wrote the movie.

He said that Robert Shaw’s famous speech in the movie was written by a lot of people (Spielberg and Shaw themselves, John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas). 

Dreyfuss said that Shaw and Spielberg ultimately took parts of each person’s attempts and made it into what it is.

He then said that Shaw attempted to do the speech drunk, and this ended up being what Dreyfuss called the longest day of his life up to that point.

He said that Shaw called Spielberg late in the night and asked him “how badly did I embarrass myself?”  And Spielberg said “not fatally”.

So the next day Shaw came in, sober, and did it in one take, and that’s what’s in the movie.

Awesome awesome stuff.

I can’t thank Richard Dreyfuss and the Jaws cast enough for that great Q&A session.

Next up was “The Directors Cut” Q&A with Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, and Damien Leone.

They talked about some of their respective works, which is a lot, especially Savini and Nicotero.

Very smart and innovative people.

After this was “Killer Conversation” Q&A, which featured Nick Castle, James Jude Courtney, Doug Bradley, David Thornton, and Felissa Rose.

Nick and James talked about their times playing Michael Myers (Nick in the original and the 3 newer ones in cameos) and James playing Michael in the 3 newer ones, doing most of the work.

Doug, a super nice guy by the way, talked about the Hellraiser franchise, how he met Clive Barker (Hellraiser creator), how he became an actor and his process (he’s never had one acting lesson), and about how a Michael Myers vs. Pinhead movie idea was bandied about, but unfortunately has never happened.

David talked about how he became an actor, his process, and about working in the Terrifier movies.

Felissa also talked about how she became an actress and her process.

Again, awesome stuff.

After this, I walked around a little more and came pretty close to buying a Jason mask because I wanted Kane Hodder to sign it.

Again, I passed earlier because I didn’t think I had enough money, but it looked like I could afford the mask after all.  But I misunderstood and I was told it was more than I thought it would be if it was signed so I again unfortunately passed.  Maybe next year because Kane comes to all of these.

But I’ll say this.  I know I said what I said earlier, but Kane is definitely great to his fans and I could tell he was really into interacting with everyone.

He was originally scheduled to be part of two Q&As that day, but he didn’t, and I’m guessing that’s because he wanted to sign/take selfies and pictures/interact with as many fans as he could.

I’ve seen another hero of mine do this very same thing this much, and that was Chuck Norris.

So I’m sorry I took slight to his sarcastic joke last year, but I can tell he really does care about his fans and I’ve read many stories of how kind he’s been to fans, and especially kids.

When I was in line, I heard that Kane’s time at his table was nearly up and he said he felt bad about it because he didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

So good on you Kane.

OK this was definitely a great, full day, but the best was saved for last.

I attended a live podcast event called Talk Scary To Me.

This was episode 98 of this podcast, hosted by Danielle Harris (Halloween 4 and 5, the two Rob Zombie Halloween movies, and so much more) and Scout Taylor-Compton (also starred in the Rob Zombie Halloween movies and more).  This episode will be available for download/streaming either Tuesday, October 24, or Halloween day (Tuesday October 31).

Their guest was Jack Osbourne, who is the son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

I got to say hi to him as I walked into the room.

Very smart guy.

The podcast started and Jack ultimately came on stage a little later on and I’m telling you this was so much fun.

Lots of stories and laughs, games were played, questions were asked and answered.  You just had to be there and I’m glad I was.

I really enjoyed this very much.

Before the podcast, I and all the other fans received a bag of goodies (a nice tote bag with a signed picture of Danielle and Scout, a keychain, a pin with their faces on it, and some candy.  Hey it’s Halloween time.).  They also had a lot of merch too (shirts, sweatshirts, hats, etc.).

And after the podcast, Danielle and Scout took pictures with everyone.

Danielle said fans didn’t have to do it but this was part of the experience if they wanted it.  And of course most stayed to have their pictures taken.

I got to tell them both I had so much fun and they appreciated that.

I told Danielle that Halloween 4 is one of my favorites and she thanked me and I told both Danielle and Scout that I loved seeing them together in the Rob Zombie Halloween movies.

They were both very appreciative and kind.

I can’t thank Danielle and Scout enough for the great time had by me and by all of us in the audience.

An AWESOME way to end this long but fun and rewarding day.

I hope to go again next year, although considering it almost took me hours to get inside, I may pay a little more and get the VIP or Weekend Ticket Pass so I can get in an hour earlier than most of the people attending.

Thank you to the staff members that told me I could go in sooner if I had an early photo op.  They really saved my day!!

And Thank you everyone at Scarefest for such a great time.